One Hit KO

Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

2012

National Championships

Double Mini Article: Traveling with Friends and U.S. Nationals Tips

Pikkdogs 2 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a two part article for you.  The first part of the article will be about traveling for Pokemon, and the second part will have some tips for U.S. Nationals.  I know it’s a weird combination, but I am a weird person, so it all works out.  Before we get going, let’s throw it over to my sidekick Pedro for some news.  How you doing Pedro?

 Oh doing well.

What do you got us today?

Well today is the anniversary of the resignation of the office of Secretary of State in 1915 by William Jennings Bryant.  He resigned because he thought that President Woodrow Wilson was leading the nation into the war that we would come to know as World War I.  Do you like the William Jennings Bryant Pikkdogs?

Oh yeah, love the William Jennigns Bryant.  He isn’t my favorite politician, but he is up there.  He was cool because he fought for democratic principles and he was against war.  He seemed like he really cared about people.  In fact his nickname was the Great Commoner.

That’s outrageous, a politician who cares about people?  That’s ridiculous, that’s like a Kardashian that cares about hair removal. 

Yes it does sound weird.

Bryant was a supporter for prohibition, do you like the prohibition?

No, he was probably wrong there.  I don’t think you should take liberties away from people……….and I like Whiskey.

Though we should probably stop talking about William Jennings Bryant, it has been done to death on Pokemon sites.  Just last week Pokemon Dan was talking on and on about William Jennings Bryant and Populism, we should do something different. 

I guess.  We hear was too much about William Jennings Bryant on Six Prizes already, let’s just get onto the article.

Traveling for Pokemon

I’m  not really sure how I want to frame this part of the article.  I want to talk about traveling with other people to Pokemon events, but I don’t really have a format in mind.  I guess I will just talk about my experience and go from there.

Having a reliable means of transportation is important, whether you ride a chopper, drive a Camry, or an 82 Buick; it doesn’t really matter.  The only thing that matters is that you can legally make it to the tournament.  If you do not have a vehicle, it is very important for you to travel with others.  Whether you have a car or not, traveling with friends to events is important.

When you travel with friends to events you usually can hit up more events then you could by yourself.  This is because most Pokemon players usually have some kind of budgetary restraints.  If a couple people can come together can pool their money together they can find a way to hit up more tournaments, and more tournaments mean more chances at winning and becoming a better player.  I  am originally from a rural area of the U.S. and where I come from teams of card players form for the purpose of traveling together, because tournaments are usually very far away.  Traveling with friends is nice because it  gives you time to talk more about your deck and do more testing, and that always is a good thing. However, there are challenges that comes with traveling in a group.

One challenging thing about traveling with a group of players is that there is always a good chance that somebody will top cut.  If you are not the guy who is top cutting, you could be standing around for hours waiting for your partner to finish.

Something you know a lot about Pikkdogs.

Ahhh, I see what you did there.  Anyway, another challenging thing is that it is very hard to equally share gas money.  Usually the person who is driving ends up paying the greatest share for gas, which doesn’t seem right since they are providing the vehicle.  There are other challenges that can arise when traveling with other players, but as long as you only travel with friends you should be okay.

Even though there are bad parts to traveling with other players, I personally do think that it is a very good thing.  Originally when I started the game I always traveled alone.  As I began to meet more people and make more friends, I started to travel more with friends.  I find that for the most part it makes Pokémon tournaments more enjoyable.  It is especially more enjoyable when a bunch of players can travel far and get a motel room.  This leads to a lot more testing and usually some good delivery pizza.  One good rule of thumb when traveling with a group is if you go to a motel, never sleep in a bath tub.  Although it may seem cool and comfortable, it is inevitable that sometime during the night somebody will turn the facet on and get you wet, which is not as fun as it sounds.

That is really all I can say about traveling for Pokemon.  It is is usually a good thing to travel with others, so if you haven’t done it, you should.  I know you guys out there have some good traveling stories, so please leave those in the comment section, it should be fun to read those.

Nationals Tips

Believe it or not,  Nationals is just under 2 weeks away.  Although I have only been to Nationals once, I do have some tips about Nats for you first timers.  So let’s start those

Food

Of course the most important part of any event is the food.  While you will be on your own for Breakfast and Dinner, you will need to find your lunch downtown during the event.  There are a lot of places downtown that are good for lunch, but it can be hard to find a place if you don’t know what is around.  You usually have about an hour for lunch, so you do have some time to take a walk around and find some places outside of the convention center.  My first tip is to stay away from anything sit-down.  There are a lot of fancy restaurants downtown that are really expensive, so stay with something more fast food like.  There is a Steak and Shake next door, but unless you are lucky you will have to wait in line for a long time since it is very busy.  Last year Ed liked to hit the bagel shop (it was an Einstein’s I think) just a couple blocks away, it was actually a fairly decent place for lunch.  But, the best place to go for lunch is the food court in the mall.  If you walk around the streets just outside the convention center you should see signs for a mall, just follow those signs and you will eventually find a mall and a food court (I believe it is on like the 3rd floor).  Last year I enjoyed getting some Chinese food and some Root Beer from A&W.  There are a lot of places to choose from, so everyone in your group can choose what they want.  You should be able to take your time eating at the mall, and still make it back to the convention center in plenty of time.

Parking

Whenever you have an event in an urban area parking will be a bitch, it is just a fact of life.  It is actually not too  bad in Indy.  There are several parking garages in the area, some for the mall and others just for general downtown use.  Most of those will charge you at least 10 bucks a day for parking.  Last year the best place for parking was next door at Lucas Oil Stadium.  Yes, the house that Peyton built is where you wanna be.  I don’t know what it will be this year, but last year they only charged us 5 bucks a day for parking.  Security wasn’t a huge problem either, they seemed to have people watching the lot.  I wouldn’t leave my gold bars in the back window, but it seemed fairly safe.

Hotels

Of course it is best to be at a hotel downtown.  You normally can find a decent deal on a hotel room that is connected to the convention center.  This saves you a lot of worries, because you don’t have to deal with driving back and forth to and from downtown each day.  You still may have to worry about paying for parking, but at least you don’t have to move your car each day.  But, I still think that the best deal is a cheap hotel room on the outskirts of town.  Even though you will have to drive in each day, it is still a heck of a lot cheaper than paying for a hotel room downtown.   If you book early you can sometimes get a decent room for 40 bucks a night!  And no the room won’t be that great, but this is Pokemon, you shouldn’t expect to be living the high life.  Cheap hotel rooms are usually where they are at.  Last year I loved our room because we got free biscuits and gravy, I sometimes still wake up and fantasize about biscuits and gravy.

Are “biscuits and gravy” what you call your testicles?

Of course.

Miscellaneous Tips

The first miscellaneous tip is to bring snacks and water to the convention center.  Snacks and Drinks at the convention center are usually marked up about 300%, so you might not want to waste your money.  Make sure to bring a small bag and stick some drinks and snacks in there, you will surely need it later.  A second tip is to wear comfy shoes.  Nationals will give you about 8 straight hours where you are on your feet.  Sure you do sit down when you are playing, but most of the time you will be waiting for the next rounds parings to be put up.  And while you are waiting you are likely to be walking around the convention center looking at everything that is going on.  One bad thing about the convention center being so big is that it takes a lot of energy to move around.  At the end of the day last year I was really tired and my feet hurt really bad.  I didn’t have the best shoes on, but they were fairly comfortable, yet my feet were still killing me.  So make sure to make sure to prepare for a long day on your feet.

And finally, make sure you guys make it to the Unofficial Pokemon Nationals Afterparty.  It is at 1850 S. East Street in Indianapolis at 7:30 on Friday.  The concert will have performances by Good Luck Varsity, Rival Summers, and PK Fire.  So after you go 6-0 in the Swiss Rounds on Friday, head over to see some of the coolest Indy Rock bands in the Midwest play in Indy.  It will be a good time, so make sure to plan your schedule ahead of time.

That’s all I really got for Nationals tips.  I hope you guys will be able to make it, and I know that you guys will have a fun time.  What kinda stuff do you got for us to end the article Pedro?

Well, Foxnews.com is reporting that a jar of anti-freckle cream has been found on the island of Nikumarroro in the South Pacific, which is a clue that Amelia Earhardt might have crashed there on her last flight.

We all know that she was not left on a deserted island, we all know from Star Trek: Voyager that she was abducted by aliens and then put in stasis and taken to the Delta Quadrant. 

No. The only thing we learned from Star Trek: Voyager was that putting Jerri Ryan in a tight jumpsuit will give you three extra seasons.  That was a great jumpsuit, can we see a picture of it?

Nice. You know you’ve been showing a lot of pictures of boobs lately.

Yeah that is kinda what I do.

Well, I have a picture of you with a lot of wieners for payback.  Show the pictures of Pikkdogs with a lot of wieners. 

That was one of my favorite days, so many wieners.  Good night everybody.

Strategy

How to Counter the Metagame

coolestman22 6 Comments

Hey, it’s coolestman22 again. I’ve been meaning to write another article for a while, but no good ideas for an article had really came to me in a while. I finally had an idea, so here is an article on how to tech for your matchups and what cards to tech in to your deck to make your matchup against X deck better.

First of all, by using any of these techs against one deck, I want people to understand that it might make other matchups worse for them. If you devote three spots of your deck to play against X deck, you’ll have less room for techs against Y deck, or less room for more consistency cards to help seal the matchup against Z deck.

Let’s start with the deck that’s won 30 Battle Roads in Masters alone already, Darkrai variants, and why not put the deck that shares a weakness with it alongside.

Darkrai/Zekeels

First off, Darkrai and most cards in Zekeels has a fighting weakness, so we can group them together into one category, and it’s also something we can exploit with a handful of cards, such as:

Terrakion NVI

Terrakion NVI is the most popular Fighting-type counter Pokemon, and is probably the best for two reasons. First of all, it can OHKO any Fighting-weak pokemon in the game right now, not regarding Eviolites or Defenders. This is a good reason to play it, as an OHKO is better than just getting damage on stuff.

Second of all, it does it for the lowest possible energy cost, and only uses one Fighting Energy. If you use two Fighting energy and don’t have Fighting-compatible energy acceleration (which isn’t currently in format) you can’t pull off an attack that needs two Fighting such as Gaia Hammer on Landorus NVI or Giant Claw on Groudon EX.

Terrakion is probably the most powerful option that gets the job done the best and quickest there is to choose from here, the only drawback being that you have to run Fighting Energy. But what doesn’t need Fighting Energy?

Stunfisk NVI 68

Stunfisk may not hit as hard as Terrakion, but if you play Zekeels it is arguably better. You don’t have to play any tech energy, so it takes up one or two spots instead of 3 to 6. This is good because, like most decks, Zekeels is pretty tight on space and you can’t afford to play random tech pokemon that take up that much space without hurting your consistency.

The problem with Stunfisk is that he isn’t all that hard hitting. You can only do 100 to a Fighting-type instead of the 180 Terrakion does. Stunfisk two-shots what Terrakion one-shots. The other attack has the possibility to do 60 (120 to a Fighting-weak Pokemon), which is 60 short of killing Darkrai EX or Raikou EX, meaning that if you have the space for Terrakion you should play it.

The last upside you get to playing Stunfisk over Terrakion is that Stunfisk has the ability to paralyze the Pokemon you attack. If your opponent has a Switch, then it doesn’t matter, but sometimes that 50% chance of paralysis can be a great thing to have. If you can buy yourself a turn against a Darkrai, you can KO it next turn for two prizes. It’s still much better to just play Terrakion in Zeels if you have the space, but if you don’t it can be nice to have something.

So, is there any other tech for Darkrai? Well, no good ones. Stunfisk and Terrakion are really the only half decent ones because everything else has nothing over Terrakion. Stunfisk probably isn’t your second best option in Zekeels, but it takes up less space than Terrakion and everything else (Groudon, Landorus mostly), it would just be better to play Terrakion. Stunfisk is the only card with an advantage over Terrakion at all.

CMT

CMT mainly consists of cards either weak to Lightning, or Mewtwo. Generally we can just play Mewtwo to counter the Mewtwos, which most decks do already. There’s also Regigigas that could pop up, so it’s hard to play a card to specifically counter all of CMT. But there are a few mentions I would want to give out.

Zekrom BW

Zekrom BW has two attacks, one which costs LLC, putting it out of the question for all decks other than Zeels already.

Outrage, however, can work to counter Tornadus EX and Tornadus (If you need to counter Tornadus EP anyway). What you do is send it out without energy, and leave it out for a turn. Then, hopefully it takes a hit, and you attach DCE, possibly Catcher a Tornadus EX, and knock out the Tornadus.

Zekrom probably isn’t a great tech, but it’s the best one there is against Tornadus-EX.

Weezing HS

Weezing HS is a card that was discussed as a good Mewtwo counter before Mewtwo came out, being able to OHKO Mewtwo for only two energy, without giving up two prizes (necessarily). However, it was tested, and it didn’t end up working out.

The answer to the Weezing problem is to play a line of AT LEAST 3-2 AND play at least 2 Defender. That’s 7 deck spots for a so-so Mewtwo counter. Is that something you would really want?

If you did opt to go the Weezing way, however, you would have to play 2 Koffing down at the same time, and then evolve one to Weezing and blow up in Mewtwo’s face, KOing the Mewtwo and yourself if you didn’t attach a Defender, and if you didn’t attach a Defender you’d give your opponent a free shot at whatever you brought up, so it’d be much better just to play Mewtwo if you had the money. It also spooks the opponent if they know what Weezing does.

Quad Fighting

Quad Fighting is an interesting deck, and there are few great ways to counter it. A lot of pokemon in this format have Fighting resistance, and you really should all know about how Tornadus EX counters it by now, so I won’t bore you with what you already know. There are other options that are not as good at doing so and take up a bit more space in your deck, but have different options against Fighting.

Shaymin EX

Shaymin EX with Prism Energy is a good counter to Fighting because a Shaymin will take two hits to KO (3 with Eviolite against anything but Groudon), and you also hit Terrakion for weakness, an OHKO after your opponent takes 2 prizes (or 1 with a PlusPower).

The problem with Shaymin is that it’s a terrible starter and isn’t all that good without N in any other matchups, he’ll probably just be OHKOed by whatever your opponent brings up next, and even with N he really isn’t that good.

I think that unless you were cash-strapped it would be much better to play Tornadus-EX, but Shaymin does bring an interesting option to the table, even if he isn’t the best option. He can swing for 180 late game, something not many other cards can do, and Shaymin is a decent option, but there are just too many downsides to it for it to work well enough to be worth 3 spots of your deck.

Conclusion

So that’s it for my article, I should be back with another one pretty soon though. I hope this gave you some insight about what techs to put in against what matchup, and feel free to leave a comment below. If you think I forgot something, just let me know.

Tourney Report

Pikkdogs Okemos Battle Roads Report and Quad Entei List

Pikkdogs 13 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a tournament report and a decklist for you.

If you read my last report you would have seen that I went to a BR a couple weeks ago with a Kyurem EX deck, and didn’t do very well.  I thought the deck held its own, it just needed a little more pop.  So, I thought I should change the deck up, and I decided that I should use the same basic concept but with Entei EX.

When I first did testing on this deck it was basically my other deck, but with fire energies and Entei EX.  Than, I started to talk to Ed and we made some good changes to the list.  After changing the list to make it more mainstream, I did some testing and came up with something that had some promise.  I knew that I wouldn’t have a great shot to win, but hopefully this deck would play well and I could keep polishing it until Nationals.

Instead of my last deck which was entirley based on healing, I changed it so that the healing is still there but the deck is more versatile.  I knew that I should have a decent match-up against most decks.  I just need to make sure that I don’t get a bad start and that I keep up with my opponent. 

The goal of this deck is simple.  Get 3 energies on an Entei quickly, and then get another Entei on the bench.  With the “Grand Flame” attack you can do 90 damage and attach a discarded fire energy to the bench.   Then you use healing trainers to keep your guys alive while doing damage and getting other attackers going. 

 Here is the list that I ran:

Pokemon-4

  • Entei EX-4

Energy-13

  • Fire-13

Trainers-43

  • 4-Potion
  • 3-Moomoo Milk
  • 4-Life Herb
  • 2-Max Potion
  • 4-Junk Arm
  • 4-Pokemon Catcher
  • 4-Eviolite
  • 2-Random Receiver
  • 4-PONT
  • 4-Professor Juniper
  • 2-N
  • 1-Sage’s Training
  • 2-Ultra Ball
  • 1-Heavy Ball
  • 2-Switch

So there is the list.  No its not perfect, but its not quite Nationals, so I wasn’t too focused on actually winning this tourney.   It is actually a pretty cool deck.  I like the fact that it is kind of rogue, that is always cool.  It never seems to completely fall apart, unless it gets a really bad start or finds a water deck.  It also is fairly cheap, so if you want a decent nationals deck for a decent price, this could be a good deck for ya.

The Report

This tournament was i n Okemos, Mi, just outside of Lansing.  This venue, or one just next door, has held Pokemon tourneys for as long as I have been in the game, so it felt good to be in a familiar place.

Registration started at 11:00 AM, and its a little more than an hour and a half drive for me.  So I did get a decent sleep, but it could be better.  I woke up and watched an episode of Dr. Who before hitting the road.  The drive was not that bad even though there is road construction almost everywhere these days.  I got to the venue just after 11, and found a bunch of ladies scrap-booking.  While I am not against scrap-booking, I was kind of set on Pokemon.  I had thought that I must have read the schedule wrong, but then a Pokemon friend walked in the door and said that the tourney got moved next door for some reason.  So after finally finding the venue, I walked in and said hi to some friends and filled out a decklist.  There were not a lot of players there, but we at least had enough for 5 rounds.

Rd 1 JW with Some kind of Eelish thing

                I was not excited to see that I was playing JW in the first round.  Even though JW is a newcomer to Pokemon, he has sure hit the ground running.  He has Top Cut in all of his Spring Battle Roads so far, in fact he even ended up winning this tournament.  I have never met JW before, at least not formally, but he seemed like  a really nice guy, and I hope I found a new Poke-Buddy.  He sure has the stuff to challenge for the #1 spot in Michigan next year.  Anyway, enough of that stuff, let’s get down to the match. 

                The bad thing about this game is not only is JW a great player, he told me that he has had a lot of experience playing an Entei EX deck, so I knew that he would know how to beat me in an efficient way.  But, this is not my first time to the Rodeo either; I still have a good shot at beating him.  

                I get a good start and hit all the energy drops I need to get Entei loaded up fast and to get a second Entei going.  JW starts with an active Tynamo and a benched something, I can’t quite remember.  At first I thought I needed to focus on getting rid of the Eelektriks, but then when JW grabs a couple Mewtwo EX and my priorities change.   I know that if he gets a ton of energies on Mewtwo EX that it could ruin my day.  I begin to Catcher up the Mewtwo and start pounding it.  But, he is able to Eviolite both Mewtwo EXs and this makes my job tougher.  As soon as I get a Mewtwo in to knockout range, he uses a Max Potion to get rid of the damage counters.  This is a big turning point in the game.  Meanwhile, on my side of the field I am using a lot of my healing trainers to keep damage off Enteis.  There was a time when I forgot to use Moomoo Milk and that cost me 2 prizes, woops. 

                The game keeps on going for multiple turns until JW gets a ton of energy on both Mewtwo EXs and is able to OHKO Entei, at this point the game is over.  When you have a million energies on Mewtwo EX, there is not really anything that I can do. 

0 – 1 The game was very close until the end, and both I and JW thought that the momentum could swing the other way at anytime.  Congrats to JW on a good and close game, he really is one heck of a player. 

Round 2 Claire with Tyrantitar Prime/Darkrai EX/Dark Bisharp

                It’s nice to play a girl this round, complimenting JW so much made me feel quiet strange, hopefully all the man-love is over.  Claire is of course a long time Poke-Player, I have enjoyed chatting with Claire and her husband Ryan ever since I joined the game.    Clair was sitting right next to me during the first round, so I knew that she was playing a rogue dark deck. 

                She started with 2 Pupitars and a Pawniard, and I started first and gave us an N.  I thought that this may give Clair a big advantage since she had a lot of Pokemon in play and a brand new hand, but apparently she had some bad luck.  While I began to hit every energy drop and setup two Enteis, she was missing Supporters and energies.  She did end up getting 2 Tyranitars, but without the right energies she could only do 20 damage to me.  I do a steady 90 damage to whatever she can put out there, and she has trouble getting energies at the right time.  This ends up being a one-sided game and I end up sweeping this thing six prizes to zero. 

1 – 1 I am very glad to get a win with this deck, but I do know that Claire would have put up a better fight if she would have had better luck. 

Round 3 Preston with Durant

                I haven’t met Preston before today, he must be a new guy.  But I did kind of meet and trade with him before the pairings were posted and he seems like a good guy.  When I first found out that he was playing Durant I was very scared.  I knew that I haven’t really tested this match-up, and if he can pull out a bunch of Crushing Hammers he could easily win.  The problem for Preston was that he revealed to me that he only plays 1 Crushing Hammer. 

                The bad match-up that I thought I had just turned into an Auto-Win.  I start the game making all my energy drops and I took a prize on my 2nd turn.  I went on to attach an energy each time he tried to remove it, and ended up taking 6 prizes in 7 turns.  I actually finished the game with a deck that was bigger than the deck that I usually finish with. 

2 – 1 Sorry Preston, you just ran into a bad match-up.  I am going into round 4 thinking my deck is running very soundly and consistently. 

Round 4 Darkrai EX/Tornadus EX

                I apologize to my opponent for this round, I just can’t seem to remember your name.  I usually take notes, but this game was so good that I forgot all about the notes.  I was excited for this game because this is the deck that everyone says has gone to Tier 1, and is possibly the BDIF.  I never played against this particular version so I was excited to see how it goes. 

                My opponent starts with Tornadus EX and attaches a DCE and hits me for 30.  I get a good start and am able to use a Potion to get rid of that damage.  In the next couple turns I am able to make all the energy drops I need to set-up.  I start to target Tornadus EX because he can do the most damage to me, but I come up 10 damage away from getting the KO before my opponent brings Darkrai EX in and hides Tornadus on the bench.  I get confused here because I don’t know if I should target the easy prize, or if I should target the thing that is trying to attack me.  My job gets harder because is it at this point where he begins to use a million Crushing Hammers.  I started off with one Entei with 3 energy and one with just 1.  I ended his turn with 1 energy on each of them.  I was able to recover (Thanks Ed for suggesting more energy) but losing energy did send me back a couple of turns.  He started the game hitting a lot of those Crushing Hammer flips, but he ends up getting a lot of tails at the end of the game. 

                As I start getting energy back on to the field, my opponent is chopping away at my HP with Darkrai EX.  I am able to get a lot of good flips with my healing cards and am able to keep a lot of the damage counters away from my field.  There was one point deep into the game when the game was still up for grabs where I had a damaged Entei active and a fully powered up Entei on the bench.  Even though I had no energy or supporter in my hand, I decided to retreat the active and use a Max Potion to clear damage counters from the field.  My opponent could not Catcher up the Entei with one energy and decided to scoop because he ran out of resources and cards in his deck. 

3 – 1  My first two wins were not that impressive, but this game seemed to be a legit win.  It was a really close game that could have gone either way right down to the end.  Good game man. 

Round 5 Bohdan with Kyurems and Mewtwo EX

                Who plays Kyurem?  This game is very bad for me because he can hit me for weakness, and my healing trainers don’t do any good to a knocked out Pokemon.  I knew that I had to be really lucky to win this game.

                Bohdan starts with the normal Kyurem and passes.  I again get a good set-up and start executing the crucial energy drops.  Bohdan plays a Pokemon Collector and gets 2 Kyurem EX and another regular Kyurem.  He seesm set-up, but he is missing some energy.  But, after a couple turns Bohdan does find a lot of energy off of an N and is able to use Kyurem EX to hit me for 240 damage and the win. 

3 – 2 I really was hoping to win this game and have a chance at getting Top Cut, but it wasn’t meant to be.  I just ran into a bad match-up, and that is never a good thing.  But, if I have to get slaughtered by someone, it isn’t a bad thing that it is to my favorite Ukrainian friend. 

                Overall I think my deck ran well.  I seemed to set-up well each time and got a lot of consistency early game.  I did have a couple of times when I wanted for supporters, but I’m sure that happens to everybody once in a while.  All things considered I am happy with this deck.  I do have to do a lot more polishing if I want to play it for Nationals, but I may be on my way.  I may or may not play this deck in Indy, but at least I did learn more about the format and what it takes to win. 

                A big thanks to all my opponents, you were all great.  Thanks also goes to the judges and Derek for being great.  I also want to thank Ed for helping me get my deck on the right track.  And also a thanks to Billie Piper, your hotness  make David Tennants Dr. Who watchable.

So Long and Thanks for all the fish.

OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge

Budget Zoroark: Cheap Tournament Pokemon Deck Undefeated (For Real This Time)

Ed 6 Comments

Here’s my quick tourney report from Outpost 2000 yesterday. Ava had a birthday party to attend at a waterpark sort of place, so she didn’t join us. I got Petra to play, though. Apart from that, the big news was that another fellow joined us. Some of you may remember the days when this site was named www.TeamOmar.com. Well, the team’s namesake, Omar, graced us with his presence. I handed him my Quad Terrakion deck (for which he had to scrounge 4 Terrakion).

Petra ran Ava’s Donphan deck. It’s a pretty simplified deck, and I simplified it even further for Petra. Essentially, it runs 4 Virizion as a starter. On turn 1, you attach an energy there and Double Draw. On turn 2, you bring up Donphan and start attacking. Yeah, there’s more to do that that, but not a whole lot more.

I ran the “Budget Zoroark” deck. The list I ran can be found in the Cheapest Pokemon Deck article.

Round 1: Guy From Saint Cloud with Tornadus EX, Regigigas EX, and Beartic (Petra Vs. Paul) Read More

OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge

Budget Zoroark: Cheapest Pokemon Deck At $35

Ed 12 Comments

It says $70. I say $35.
I don’t know where I get these titles. I’m sure you can make a cheaper deck, but this will beat it (unless it’s Fighting type). Also, $35 is just the Troll ‘n’ Toad price divided by 2. I dunno if you can get the cards for that price, but I’m pretty sure you could get close.

I’ve been working on this deck lately, and I think this is the best route to take it. I have now added 4 Rescue Energy. They really help the deck recover, and the deck just has to be doing 120+ damage every turn. If you miss a turn of damage, you’re on track to lose.

To assist with this recovery, I experimented with DCE, but it just doesn’t cut it. The problem is that the deck usually needs a 1st turn Ascension. Ascension requires darkness energy. If you have 4 Rescue and 4 DCE, you’re diluting the dark energy pool too much. Sometimes you can get away without the Ascension, like if you draw into Zoroark right away, but it’s usually key.

After adding the 4 Rescue, I also ended up dropping the Special Dark energy. The deck started life running 4 Special Dark and 4 Plus Power (on top of the Dark Claw). This early build could often do 150+ damage right off the bat. Well, if you can do 120 damage, you can still usually 2shot anything even Eviolited. It is a bit sad that you will now miss the OHKOs on Eviolited 130HP basics, but the deck just has to have a semi-consistent way of getting 2 energy in a turn. I already discussed why I think DCE can’t make the list, so Dark Patch is our alternative. To fuel Dark Patch, you need basic dark, and you have to discard them early to make it work.
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Pikks Three Professor Cup

Pikkdogs Pikks Three: Professor Cup Special: Seismitoad, Zebstrika ND, and Archaeops

Pikkdogs 18 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a special edition of Pikkdogs Pikks Three.  This time we will be taking a look at three cards that will be good for the professor cup format this year at Nationals. Before we talk about to much we gotta do a disclaimer.

NOTE: EVERYTHING IN THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT THE MODIFIED FORMAT, IT IS ABOUT THE PROFESSOR CUP WHICH HAS SPECIAL RULES.

The rules for the professor cup are always a little bit different, this year we have rules that are very different.  The first rule is that the format is Call of Legends on, only CL and Black and White set cards can be used.  The second rule is that basic Pokemon are illegal.  The third rule is that Stage 1’s are treated as basics and Stage 2’s are treated as Stage 1’s.  That means you can start with a stage 1, and then evolve once into a stage 2.  These rules make the format different and it should be a lot of fun.  Before we talk about some cards for the format, let us say hi to my sidekick Pedro. Hey Pedro.

Hey Pikkdogs.

Do you have any news for us Pedro?

Well, it seems that it has finally come upon us.

What?  Nationals?

No, the Zombie Apcolaypse.  It seems that many newstories lately are linking up to hint that Zombies are already on the loose.  First, a weekend or so ago a man in Miami was arrested for eating a man’s face, and would not stop eating even though the police shot him.  A second zombie sighting did happen in Florida a week or so ago when a doctor was arrested by police officers.  Apparently they could not restrain him with regular methods and he began spitting blood at the officers.  A third story comes from New Jersey where a man is accused of throwing his own intestines at police officers.  There is actually a fourth story.  The Center for Disease Control released a pamphlett that contains survival tips if a Zombie Apocalypse did happen.  Some are speculating that radioactive tuna found off the coast of California is the source for the current Zombie sightings.  Do you think the Zombie Apocalypse is upon us Pikkdogs?

Of course not.  All these instances can be explained.  The story in New Jersey is not a zombie, because we know from watching Jersey Shore that all people from Jersey behave that way.  The CDC was not insinuating that there could be a zombie event, they were trying to use it as a tongue-in-cheek metaphor for other disasters.

Well, then what about the face eating guy in Miami?

He was just hungry.  Face is traditinally a good tasting part of the animal.

Well, I guess.  Maybe the Zombie Apocalypse isn’t upon us.  Did you see any Zombies the last time you went to Florida?

Nope.

Do you like it down there?

Yes……………..and I also like Florida.

I see what you did there.  Do you like the Zombies?

Zombies are pretty cool.  At least Zombies are always evil and badass, not like what modern people have done to Vampires.  I haven’t heard about a Zombie love story yet.

True.  We should get you an inter-dimensional porthold sometime so we could visit a dimension that is overun by zombies.  Its a good summer vacation.

Sure.

Should we do it tomorrow?

No, busy.

Day after?

Gotta work.

Feasel day?

No, that’s when we take the children to see the feasels.

Why are we acting out a Cosby show sketch?

I guess we’re board, let’s just move onto another article.

 

Card #1 Seismitoad

Description– Seismitoad is perhaps the most hyped attacker in the Professor Cup format.  In this format he is a stage 1 with 140 HP, a grass weakness, and a 3 retreat cost.  The attack that everyone is talking about is “Round”, which does 30 damage times the amount of attackers that have the “Round” attack that you have in play.

Analysis– Let’s look at the stats here.  140 HP is very good in this EX-less format.  The grass weakness will be no problem, and the three retreat cost is not great but it is workable attack in a deck that has many one energy card attackers.

Seismitoad will be in a deck that is all about the “Round” attack.  I know something about being round, and it is a good thing.  There are 2 other attackers that also have the “Round” attack, and in this format they are all basics.  Since most of your attackers have CC attacks, you will be able to setup fast and attack fast.  All of the bad things about the “Round” deck in the Modified Format are now gone in the Professor Cup format.  Seismitoad should be a great attacker in this format, and it is well deserving of all the hype.

The operation of this deck should be fairly simple.  This deck should have a bunch of Dual Balls and Pokemon Collectors to get you a bunch of “Round” attackers on turn 1.  You might wanna start with Wigglytuff because he can attack on turn 1 without any energy acceleration.  On turn 2 you can evolve into Seismitoad and start doing a lot of damage.  The 140 HP is very good in this format and should be able to keep you alive in the format for a while.

There are some bad things about Seismitoad.  The first is that Archeops is almost broken in this format, and Archeops can stop Seismitoad from hitting the board.  Even though the “Round” deck is not dead without evolutions, it does hurt the deck.  The 3 energy retreat cost is also fairly bad for Seismitoad.  However, there is room enough in the “Round” deck to fit in some Switches, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Final Rating–8.5/10-The Seismitoad “Round” deck will probably be the most popular deck during the Professor Cup.  Although Archeops can hurt the deck, it is still one of the most solid decks in the format.

Card #2 Zebstrika ND

Description– The current format doesn’t really have a good deck that contains trainer lock, but the Professor Cup format does.  Zebstrika ND has 90 HP, a fighting weakness, and a free retreat cost.  It is a basic Pokemon in this format.  It has two attacks.  The first one is “Disconnect” and does 40 damage for LC and stops your opponent from playing trainer cards during his/her next turn.  The second attack is called “Lightning Crash” and let’s you snipe for 80 for LLC while discarding all energy attached to Zebstrika.

Analysis– Zebstrika does not seem like a great Pokemon, but if you can deny your opponent the use of trainers for the entire game, you have a large advantage.  Let’s start this analysis by looking at the basics.

90 HP is bad, but workable on what is now a basic.  The fighting weakness is actually not bad in the Professor Cup format, so no problem there.  The retreat cost is great, so that’s always a plus.  So the stats are very workable.

Most people are thinking of pairing Zebstrika with Eelektrik.  With a little help, the now basic Eelektrik can power up a Zebstrika on turn 1 and get the trainer lock going.  Sniping for 80 is not a great thing, but if you do run evolutions, it could be a good way to take away Archeops.  Discarding energy is not a big deal, because you can just use a bunch of Dual Balls for two Eelektriks and a Zebstrika, attach an energy to the Zebstrika and attach 2 more from the discard pile, and you are back to possibly doing 80 damage again.  So these Pokemon do work well together.

It would be nice if there were a third Pokemon that could work in this deck to hit harder, but it  may be able to work without another attacker.  It is a great deck that is very fast and consistent, it should be able to work very well at the Professor Cup.  The nice thing about this deck is that there is room for your own personal touch in it, so you can adjust it to your playstyle.

The bad thing about Zebstrika is the low 90 HP.  It can now take advantage of Eviolite, but that still doesn’t do a lot of damage.  The other bad part of this deck is that it can be a little challenging to get a lightning energy in the discard pile on turn 1, but if you make your deck for this purpose, you should be able to accomplish the task.

Final Rating– 8/10–  This may not be a deck that has all the answers just yet, but it has a solid foundation.  If you were to come up with some cool ideas and test it a lot, you could go deep into the Top Cut rounds.

Card #3- Archeops

Description– It is almost a crime that Archeops is a basic in this format.  Archeops is a 130 HP basic Pokemon with a  2 retreat cost and a grass weakness.  Its attack is called “Rock Slide” and does 60 damage for FFC and let’s you snipe two Pokemon for 10 each.  The Pokemon is being hyped right now because of the Ability.  It is called “Ancient Power” and does not let either player use Evolutions.

Analysis– Archeops is great at what it does, but it also leaves some questions for whoever plays it.  Unlike the other two cards in this article, Archeops is not something to build your deck around.  It is more of a tech against any stage 1 that you might come across.  We don’t really know what kind of crazy decks you will see at the Professor Cup, but Archeops is sure to help protect you from most of them.

Archeops is cool because it is very splashable.  Most people think of Archeops as a stage 2 in modified format, because that is what he would have been last year in Modified.  But, now the fossil mechanics are different, while these rules changes have not affected the modified format whatsoever, they are now effecting the Professor Cup.   Because we are by-passing the fossil mechanic because Archen no longer exists in the Professor Cup format, Archeops can be searched with cards like Dual Ball and Pokemon Collectors.  That means you can easily get rid of all evolutions with just a basic Pokemon.

I am not sure what kind of decks Archeops is best in, but I do know that if I played a deck that did not contain one evolution, I would run Archeops without a second thought.  It is just too good of a card not to run.  It seems to protect you against almost every deck out there, all those good Stage 1s (Stage 2s) that are easy to get out now will be of no concern to you.  He should be good in most decks.

There are some bad things about Archeops.  The worst thing is his retreat cost.  For some reason a bird Pokemon has a 2 retreat cost.  This makes it very hard to retreat Archeops if your deck does not run DCE.  You can run Skyarrow Bridge to turn the retreat cost to one, but that may take up more spots than you want to.  The other bad thing about Archeops is that the attack is fairly poor.  You are not going to want to spend the time of loading three energies on Archeops just go 60 damage.  It would be nice if this guy could attack, but he is not here as an attacker anyway, so he can still be very playable.

Final Rating– 8.75/10– A very splashable versatile tech that can be very helpful.  Yes the retreat cost sucks and it will hurt the deck if you start with this card, but overall it is a great card.  It may not be in every deck in the Professor Cup, but it will be played a lot.  As long as you don’t play any evolutions, you pretty much have to play this card.

Conclusion

Although I am not a professor and will not play in the Professor Cup, I still think the format is pretty cool.  I kind of wish that I was able to play in this format, it should be really fun for all you professors.  The cup will also be cool because you can win some cool prizes and stuff that is not available up to us normal players.  Just one more hint, if you play in the cup but are not a professor, don’t tell everybody on Six Prizes that you aren’t.  It didn’t work out too well for the last guy that did that.

Well, that’s all I got to say about these cards.  Why don’t you wrap up the article Pedro?

Okay.  Justin Bieber has been in the news lately.  First, over the Memorial Day weekend he was brought to an L.A. police station for questioning because a paparazi accused Bieber of punching him.  Then just a couple days later the Biebs left the country and headed to Norway.  The Norweigian military was brought in to deal with the crowds of people effected with Bieber-Fever.  So many people descended on the Scandanavian country that they could barely contain the crowds. 

I think this reflects poorly on Norway.  If you can’t contain a bunch of teenage girls, you shouldn’t be in the armed forces.

But these aren’t just any teenage girls, these are Bieber fans.  You know that Bieber fans are a rowdy bunch of girls.  They are of course known for starting many bar fights, and beating up the cops and stuff like that. 

I think I could take a couple Bieber fans.

But then they’d probably have to take you to jail for rape.

I guess, there is that.  Good Night everybody!

OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge

Budget Zoroark: Undefeated

Ed 13 Comments

Yeah, you read that title right.  This deck was undefeated.  You might think that means I won a Victory Cup, but the operative word in the sentence is “WAS.”

So, if you’re following along, I built this deck for my daughter.  Then, I decided it would be a good OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge deck.  She wasn’t ready to play it, so I slightly tweaked it for myself and decided to take it to Battle Roads.

Here’s the list I ran.  I’ll go over my matches, and then discuss how the deck can be improved.
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James H. vs Pikkdogs

James H. and Pikkdogs Discuss Pay to Read Pokemon Sites

James Hall 32 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs and James here with a different kind of article.  People have done CO-Op articles before, but they are usually interviews or debates.  This article will be more like a discussion.  Who knows if this format will work or if it will fall apart, but we decided that we wanted to try something new.

The topic of discussion today is pay-to-read Pokemon sites.  This phenomenon started a couple years ago when our buddy Adam of www.sixprizes.com started the Underground.  There are now pay-to-read articles on some other Pokemon sites as well.  While the Underground has been around for a while and has been considered a success, some still question whether it is a worthwhile service, and if the pay-to-read writers really give readers their best advice.  These and other topics shall be addressed, since this article does not lend itself to pictures I will put in pictures of Garden Gnomes, Read More

OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge

OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge: Zoroark Rush Deck

Ed 14 Comments
Win games for just $31!

Last time we did the OneHitKO.com Challenge, things didn’t go quite as planned. At the end, I discussed doing some sort of budget challenge the next time around. Well, things again didn’t go as planned and real life took its toll. I didn’t quite get around to working out a real challenge for the rest of you to participate in, but I do have something going on anyway.

Last time I wrote about how I was getting my 5-year-old into the Pokemon tournament scene. Well, I don’t think she’s quite ready, but I have been working on a deck for her. Interestingly enough, I think it’s a great deck for the OneHitKO.com Budget Challenge. Depending on the incarnation, I think you can purchase the deck at a place like Troll And Toad for anywhere from $30 to $90. If you already have some cards (which most of us do), or if you can trade/buy some cards locally or at cheaper places (like scrounging eBay for deals), I think you can easily cut those figures in half.
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Opinion

Should There Be a Rotation?

Pikkdogs 4 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here, today we will be talking about the possible rotation that may happen in late August.  A rotation can be a scary thing, especially for newer players, but in this article we will analyze why it can be a good thing.  The rotation is something that is fairly complicated, so let’s talk about that later after we talk to my extra-dimensional sidekick Pedro. How’s Pedro doing today?

Oh doing well.  Enjoying the lovely spring/summer weather.  You probably want me to do a news story to kick things off.  Okay, today’s news comes from the world of literature.  Today is the anniversary of the release of Bram Stocker’s most famous work, “Dracula.”  Do you like the Dracula Pikkdogs?

Oh, love the Dracula quite a good book. Read More

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